Mavericks at Rockets
The Houston Rockets' backcourt is capable of lighting up the scoreboard, but it's also capable of giving up a lot of points. The Rockets will try to keep up their pace while turning things around on the defensive end when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
Houston star James Harden went off for 54 points on Monday while backcourt mate Eric Gordon sprang for 36, but the Wizards' backcourt tandem of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 68 points, making it an NBA record 158 total points for the opposing backcourts in a 135-131 overtime win for Washington. "We tried everything on Harden," Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "We absolutely tried to take it out of his hands early, take it out of it late. Keep our hands out of his shooting pocket. We tried the switch, we tried the show. He was playing at a high, high, high level, and his step-back 3s (were on)." Harden and company should get a stiff test from the Mavericks, who earned their sixth win in the last seven games by knocking off the Boston Celtics 113-104 on Saturday. "We've gained an identity as a defensive team and that's a really important thing for us," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "We are a defensive team first and we play off of our defense."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (9-9): Dallas is 7-2 since a 2-7 start and is not looking to go back after finally reaching .500. "It means a lot," small forward Harrison Barnes told reporters of getting back to even. "I think after the way we started, things were tough. We were trying to do the right thing, but we couldn't get together, couldn't do it as a cohesive unit. But since then I feel like we've bounced back, and we've been in the right direction." Barnes is leading the charge on the offensive end and averaged 24 points in the last two games while going 10-of-15 from 3-point range in that span.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (9-10): Houston was above .500 before dropping its last three games and surrendered an average of 122.7 points in that span. "It's frustrating, but I think every team has experienced a three-game losing streak, so we'll figure a way to get out of it and go back home and have a chance to redeem ourselves," Harden told reporters. Harden is on a tear offensively and is averaging 40.8 points and 10.2 assists over the last five contests, though he is also committing 7.8 turnovers in that stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Rockets PG Chris Paul (sore left leg) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Dallas PG Dennis Smith Jr. (wrist) sat out Saturday but returned to practice on Monday and is day-to-day.
3. Houston took the last eight in the series.